Salon Melbourne 2013 Review.

Hello lovelies!

Last Sunday, I made a trip to Salon Melbourne, which some of you may remember me posting about last year (read about that by clicking here, here and here). In case you're wondering, Salon Melbourne is an industry-only event, focusing on hair, beauty and styling, but bloggers are fortunate enough to receive via a media pass. It was held over Saturday and Sunday last year, but on Sunday and Monday this year as the organisers felt it would allow more opportunity for the beauty industry to attend. It was pretty hard taking decent photos as it was so crowded!

This year, I made the trip with several blogger friends, and I think I got so caught up in the crowd, company and excitement, I actually forgot to take proper photos! 

As I did last year, I had to hit up the Zoya stand, which I did with Kerri, Sarah and Sue. It was pretty hard getting in as it was very crowded, but we certainly did our best picking up a few bargains!

Zoya stand at Salon Melbourne.

It was a great photo until the lady stuck her hand in there. :P

The lounge at Salon Melbourne.

We also saw a great demonstration by some hair experts while waiting for the Rae Morris demonstration.

I thought this hairstyle was amazing! The fringe was painted by the stylist!

More amazing hairstyles on display.

I manage to cram in a quick photo with Sue (bottom left), Jasmine (top left) and Sarah (top right) while we were waiting for Rae Morris to enter the centre stage. You can just make out Kerri standing behind us (in the pink skirt).

I've always been a fan of Rae Morris. In fact, my first makeup book was one of hers! It's amazing how tiny she is in person. It was really fascinating listening to her talk on makeup application.

Some of the wonderful tips she shared included:

• Shimmer shadow can make your skin look old, so be sure to test it on the inside of your arm before applying it to your eyes.
• Avoid arching your brow too much when you wax it as it can really age you.
• To appear more tanned, apply bronzer to your hairline and blend, as it immediately darkens your complexion.
• If you are pale, use a pale rose blush before bronzer to avoid looking orange.
• How wide apart you pluck your brows in the middle (above the bridge of your nose) is how wide your nose will look in photos (eek, will have to take note of this)!
• The perfect nude shade for lips is a shade in between your natural lip colour and your skintone.
• Add a cream shadow in a shimmery nude to your Cupid's Bow to make lips appear more plump.

I really learnt a lot from listening to her and have been experimenting with some of her tips this week.

Rae demonstrating some eye makeup techniques.

The amazing Bioderma cleanser also made its first appearance at Salon Melbourne this year! This really is an amazing cleanser that you should try if you haven't already. There's a good reason it's in every makeup artist's kit!

Bioderma stall.

I was also thrilled to visit the Heart Beauty magazine booth, which I blogged about here. The launch edition is out, so be sure to pick up a copy! I loved mine.

There was also a very talented makeup artist doing some body painting on a very patient model. She reminded me a little of Mystique from the X-Men!

Body Painting.

We also came across some gorgeous hair and makeup on display.

There was also a great ORLY display, but I somehow managed to refrain from purchasing more polishes. Truth be told, I think it's only because the stands were mostly empty by the time I went back to get some polishes.

Joey Scandizzo, winner of the 2012 Hairdresser of the Year award (pictured in the blue pants below), was also holding a demonstration with his team. How amazing were some of the hair designs?

I was especially fascinated with this one which looked a bit like the model had balls of yarn in her updo.

I also met the lovely Dean Nixon from Master Makeup, but got so carried away chatting with him I completely forgot to get a photograph! He's lovely, he spent 2 years putting together his brush line and took feedback from his makeup artist friends into consideration before finalising the designs. They are some of the softest, plushest brushes you'll ever find, so do check his website out!

Jasmine and I managed to get a photo together at the end of the day.

And last but not least, I leave you with a photo of my restrained Salon Melbourne haul. I picked up 10 polishes from Zoya, and a detangler that looks a lot like the one I own from Michel Mercier. I'm planning a review post soon so stay tuned! I'd actually wanted to buy some Kryolan too, but sadly, they had run out of the very shades I'd desperately wanted (and wanted to charge me additional shipping even if I'd purchased on the day but had it shipped to me), so I decided it just wasn't worth the trouble. I think I'd definitely have bought more if it hadn't been so crowded, but had heaps of fun hanging with the other bloggers and looking at all the displays. I can safely say I'd love to go again next year if I can!

I hope you enjoyed that post, lovelies! Did you go to Salon Melbourne? If you did, leave me a comment so I can drop by and check out your post!

Much love,

MM.

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